Grief

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Sometimes the news comes quick. Sometimes the news comes slow. No matter how or when it comes, grief travels in the wake of the news. Grief is heavy, weighty, a burden, especially when it involves someone deeply loved. Grief is not meant to be carried alone. It’s too heavy and may last a while—and that’s ok. That’s what family and friends are for, to share the load. Jesus stood outside the tomb of his friend and wept but He did not weep alone. It was a deep, human moment. “ Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted ” (Matt 5:4). If anyone knows how we feel in grief, it’s Him. But His grief did not linger long, as at the mention of his name, Lazarus came forth. We are not meant to dwell in grief, but should leave room enough for it. Let it run its course. Like the song says, “ Every Storm Runs Out Of Rain .” Another song says, “ The storm We will dance as it breaks The storm It will give as it takes And all of our pain is washed away Don't cry or be afraid Some things...

Finished Reading: Volume 1

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The last five months, I’ve utilized this first volume reading guide published in 1951, navigating through all or portions of selected readings from: Plato’s “Apology,” Crito,” and “The Republic”; Sophocle’s “Oedipus The King” and “Antigone”; Aristotle’s “Nichomachean Ethics” and “Politics”; Plutarch’s Lives “Lycurgus,” “Numa Pompilius,” “Alexander,” and “Julius Caesar”; The Book of Job; Augustine’s “Confessions”; Montaigne’s “Essays”; Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”; Locke’s “Concerning Civil Government”; Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels,” Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” America’s Founding Documents, namely, “The Declaration of Independence,” “The Constitution,” and “The Federalist Papers”; concluding with “The Communist Manifesto” by Marx and Engles. All this after my 10 chapters per day Bible reading. I did not read every single day, but I managed to complete the curriculum of Volume 1. 

Of all I’ve touched so far, Sophocles and Job capture the human situation best, and spoke to me at the deepest level. From a distance, mankind’s story hints at the fantastical, even comical but up close, unmistakably tragic. Sophocles presents the horror story of a man trapped by consequence, no way out. Job’s tragic story includes redemption, restoration. 


The next volume and course of reading will be on politics and government and will revisit selected chapters from a few of the same works as well as others. 

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